The Mailer Review/Volume 2, 2008/The Wise Blood of Norman Mailer: An Interpretation and Defense of Why Are We in Vietnam?: Difference between revisions

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{{Byline|last=Fulgham|first=Richard Lee|abstract=''Why Are We in Vietnam?'' is a novel that calls for reassessment four decades after its appearance, particularly as a work of satiric allegory.|url=https://prmlr.us/mr08fulg|}}
{{Byline|last=Fulgham|first=Richard Lee|abstract=''Why Are We in Vietnam?'' is a novel that calls for reassessment four decades after its appearance, particularly as a work of satiric allegory.|url=https://prmlr.us/mr08fulg|}}
{{start|Among the imperceptive and raucous}} commentaries on Mailer’s novels, this remark by Anatole Broyard stands out as refreshingly clear: “the rock he throws usually has a message tied to it.”{{sfn|Broyard|1967|p=4}} In the case of ''Why Are We in Vietnam?'', the rock has been given much more attention than the message because it hit us at the wrong time and in an extraordinarily sensitive spot.


===Notes===
{{Notelist}}


Among the imperceptive and raucous commentaries on Mailer’s novels, this remark by Anatole Broyard stands out as refreshingly clear: “the rock he throws usually has a message tied to it” {{sfn|Broyard|1967|p=4}}.
===Citations===
{{Reflist}}


In D.J.’s words, “He sings the song of the swine” {{sfn|Mailer|1959|p=34}}.
===Works Cited===
 
{{Refbegin|indent=yes}}
Many times D.J. interrupts his monologue to suggest that he is not really a “Texas Wasp,” but rather a “black-ass cripple Spade and sending from Harlem” {{sfn|Mailer|1967|p=224}}.
* {{cite news |last=Broyard |first=Anatole |date=1967 |title=A Disturbnce of the Peace |url= |work=New York Times |location= |access-date= |ref=harv }}
 
* {{cite book |last=Mailer |first=Norman |date=1966 |title=Cannibals and Christians |url= |location=New York |publisher=Dial |pages= |isbn= |author-link= |ref=harv }}
This quotation from Cannibals and Christians may help clarify Mailer’s position: “The
* {{cite book |last=Mailer |first=Norman |authormask=1 |date=1959 |chapter=The White Negro |title=Advertisements for Myself |url= |location=New York |publisher=Putnam |pages=357–358 |isbn= |author-link= |ref=harv }}
only explanation I can find for the war in Vietnam is that we are sinking into the swamps
* {{cite book |last=Mailer |first=Norman |authormask=1 |date=1967 |title=Why Are We in Vietnam? |url= |location=New York |publisher=Putnam |pages= |isbn= |author-link= |ref=harv }}
of a plague and the massacre of strange people seems to relieve this plague. If one were to
take the patients in a hospital, give them guns and let them shoot on pedestrians down
from hospital windows you may be sure you would find a few miraculous cures” {{sfn}|Mailer|1966|p=91}}
 
==Works Cited==
{{Refbegin}}
* {{cite news |last=Broyard |first=Anatole |date=1967 |title="A Disturbnce of the Peace" |url= |work=''New York Times'' |location= |access-date= |ref=harv }}
* {{cite book |last=Mailer |first=Norman |date=1966 |title=''Cannibals and Christians'' |url= |location=New York |publisher=Dial |pages= |isbn= |author-link= |ref=harv }}
* {{cite book |last=Mailer |first=Norman |date=1959 |title="The White Negro in ''Advertisements for Myself'' |url= |location=New York |publisher=Putnam |pages=357-358 |isbn= |author-link= |ref=harv }}
* {{cite book |last=Mailer |first=Norman |date=1967 |title=''Why Are We in Vietnam |url= |location=New York |publisher=Putnam |pages= |isbn= |author-link= |ref=harv }}
{{Refend}}
{{Refend}}

Revision as of 10:36, 8 September 2020

« The Mailer Review • Volume 2 Number 1 • 2008 • In Memorium: Norman Mailer: 1923–2007 »
Written by
Richard Lee Fulgham
Abstract: Why Are We in Vietnam? is a novel that calls for reassessment four decades after its appearance, particularly as a work of satiric allegory.
URL: https://prmlr.us/mr08fulg

Among the imperceptive and raucous commentaries on Mailer’s novels, this remark by Anatole Broyard stands out as refreshingly clear: “the rock he throws usually has a message tied to it.”[1] In the case of Why Are We in Vietnam?, the rock has been given much more attention than the message because it hit us at the wrong time and in an extraordinarily sensitive spot.

Notes

Citations

  1. ↑ Broyard 1967, p. 4.

Works Cited

  • Broyard, Anatole (1967). "A Disturbnce of the Peace". New York Times.
  • Mailer, Norman (1966). Cannibals and Christians. New York: Dial.
  • — (1959). "The White Negro". Advertisements for Myself. New York: Putnam. pp. 357–358.
  • — (1967). Why Are We in Vietnam?. New York: Putnam.
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